Andrew Graduates from Elementary School

It was Graduation (or the "Farewell") Thursday afternoon. Of course, they still have school, but we've celebrated their moving on to middle school next year. It was a nice ceremony with the graduates singing a couple songs (see video just below this), some shared memories of Elementary school, certificates and a Guest Star Surprise.

Here's one of the songs the kids sang:

Here is Andrew receiving his certificate from his teacher. We found out later that he was in the running for Cub of the Year. However, she felt there were 11 deserving students so she put all their names in a hat to draw the two winners. He wasn't drawn--but what an honor to know he was nominated for this award!

Finally, the last thing at the ceremony was a visit from the infamous rock band, The Responsibility Rockers! It was in the program, but none of the kids were allowed to see the programs in advance. It was kept a BIG secret until the principal announced it. You should have heard the cheers. This was one of the 'skits' done by the Character Counts team to kick off Responsibility. The kids talked about the Responsibility Rockers for the rest of the year. It was a HUGE success. So they reprised their roles and sang a couple of songs for the kids.

The best part of all (in my mind) was how the entire staff came together to make this happen. One of the kindergarten teachers, a para from another Kindergarten room, TWO first grade teachers, the guidance counselor and one of the 4th grade teachers (with Andrew's teacher making a guest appearance here) had to get together to write lyrics and practice to do this.

Beyond that, four classrooms had to go somewhere else to be taken care of by other teachers during this event. I could see beyond the fun the kids had to the extra work it gave a lot of the staff members. But the kids were so excited and the staff was so gracious in helping each other out. True teamwork to make a wonderful memory for the kids. Here is the song "Crazy" performed by the Responsibility Rockers. (Sorry the video is bouncy at the beginning. I had to take Rebekah to the back row and we were shifting and trying to get situated while I'm filming.)

Nathan eating cake after the ceremony. Celebrating at McDonald's with Granddaddy for dinner.